Gremlin Interactive
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| Industry | Video games |
|---|---|
| Fate | Absorbed into Infogrames |
| Successor(s) | Infogrames |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Founder(s) | Ian Stewart |
| Defunct | 1999 |
| Headquarters | Sheffield, United Kingdom |
| Key people | Patrick Phelan (software manager) |
| Products | Wanted: Monty Mole, Thing on a Spring, Premier Manager, Actua Soccer |
Gremlin Interactive (formerly Gremlin Graphics) was a British software house based in Sheffield and working mostly in the home computer market.
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[edit] History
The company was established in 1984 as Gremlin Graphics Software Ltd by Ian Stewart. In 1994 it was renamed as Gremlin Interactive. Gremlin's early success was based on games such as Wanted: Monty Mole for the ZX Spectrum and Thing on a Spring for the Commodore 64. Like many software houses established in the eighties their primary market was the 8-bit range of computers such as the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, MSX and Commodore 64.
Gremlin scored big with the Zool and Premier Manager series in the early 1990s, and then with Actua Soccer, the first football game in full 3D, while having success with other games such as the Lotus racing series, a futuristic racing game Motorhead, a stunt car racing game Fatal racing (1995) or a 1998 flight simulator Hardwar. Following EA's success with the EA Sports brand, Gremlin also released their own sports videogame series, adding Golf, Tennis and Ice Hockey to their Actua Sports series.
In 1996 Gremlin acquired DMA Design (creators of Grand Theft Auto and Lemmings).
In 1999, they themselves were bought by Infogrames and renamed "Infogrames Sheffield House", for a reported fee of around £21m, but the studio closed in 2003. The building they occupied has since been demolished when Infogrames Sheffield House was supposed to be renamed "Atari Sheffield House".
[edit] Crew
In its heyday the core of the Gremlin's crew consisted of:
- Ade Carless - Designer/graphics artist
- Ian Stewart - Managing director
- Patrick Phelan - Software manager/sound engineer
[edit] Video games
[edit] See also
- Zoo Digital — Digital media company founded by Ian Stewart (founder of Gremlin Interactive).
- Sumo Digital — Game developer founded by former members of Gremlin management.
- Jeep Jamboree: Off Road Adventure — for the Nintendo Game Boy.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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